Slight Drop in Greece’s Unemployment Rate in May

Greece’s statistics agency ELSTAT announced on Thursday that the unemployment rate dropped slightly to 21.7% in May, from an upwardly revised 21.8% in the previous month.

Despite the drop, Greece has still the highest jobless rate in the Eurozone.

The seasonally adjusted data showed that the number of officially unemployed reached 1.03 million people. Hardest hit were young people aged 15 to 24 years, with their jobless rate dropping to 44.4% from 49.7% in May last year.

Greece’s jobless rate hit a record high of 27.9% in September 2013. It has come down from record highs but remains more than double the eurozone’s average.

Unemployment in the 19 countries sharing the euro fell to 9.1% in June from a downwardly revised 9.2% in May, reaching its lowest level since February 2009.

Greece’s economy expanded in the first three months of 2017. Economic output grew 0.4% compared to the final quarter of 2016.